J is for Janie

 

I'm blogging my way through the alphabet with many others participating in the 2014 A to Z Challenge. For me, it really is a challenge because of all that's going on in my life. I spent today trying to design wedding invitations while painters painted and workers cut granite. I took a short break to run to Lowe's to pick out bathroom faucets.

We've been busy ever since moving back to Louisiana from Oklahoma. I thought retirement meant a lot of free time on our hands. Not so.

I miss Oklahoma. I especially miss my friend Janie who met me at the library for a writing day two or three times a month. She drove about 45 minutes one way for our writing day. We'd meet at 9:00 a.m. and at noon, we'd break for lunch. I'd usually take apple and cheese but Janie packed a real lunch of tuna or chicken salad. After lunch, we'd write for another hour or two. Here are a couple of pics I snapped of Janie while she focused on her manuscript. I guess you know if I'm snapping pics with my iPhone, I'm not focused on writing. I'm people-watching.



Janie used to live in Cameron, Louisiana but after her husband died, she moved to Oklahoma to be near sisters and was there to welcome me when hubby's work took us there. What a treat to have a writing pal, a brainstorming buddy ... someone who is fun, smart, loves to read and loves to laugh. That's Janie, fearless Janie, I-can-do-anything-I-put-my-mind-to Janie. What an encourager! I wrote my novella at the Mustang Library in Oklahoma with Janie sitting across from me ... just like in these pictures. If we were still there, I'd have another book finished. I have no doubt!

Janie and I keep in touch by email, but it's definitely not the same as sitting across the table from each other. I can't see her crazy expressions or hear her wild laughter. I miss that.

Do you have a special pal that cheers you on when you've been rejected way too many times? Someone who'll read over your work, and tell you honestly if it is good, if a scene works, if there are plot holes? Janie wrote a little mystery short story that I had the pleasure of critiquing for her. She targeted Women's World Magazine. We were so excited when they offered her a contract. A Safe Bet came out in March. I felt like Janie's success was my success too.

Tell me about your writer friends. Anyone special?

BRAINSTORM

BRAINSTORM: a spontaneous group discussion to produce ideas and ways of solving problems. Produce an idea or way of solving a problem by holding a spontaneous group discussion: a brainstorming session.

A sudden bright idea: a harebrained idea.

I have a character that won't leave my thoughts--but no idea, setting, story or plot to go with her. I need help!

I’ve heard tales of entire writing groups involved in brainstorming sessions. The author will toss out info or questions allowing members to make suggestions or give solutions and ideas. This might go back and forth the entire meeting, or they may time their sessions allowing other members to take advantage of the process. The session is recorded for the author’s benefit.

When you’re brainstorming a new idea, do you enlist the help of others? Give me one brainstorming tip I can use alone.

Wise Words from Elizabeth Berg

I've been searching for Escaping into the Open (the art of writing true) by Elizabeth Berg and finally found it this week. The book interweaves Elizabeth Berg's story of her own writing journey and offers encouraging advice on how to create stories that spring from deep within the heart.

It's wonderful! Let me give you a passage that really speaks to me:

The real problem with talking too much about what you're doing is that you set yourself up for judgment. And if someone sneers at your idea, however subtly they do it, it can cripple you And they don't even have to sneer--someone simply asking too many questions, pushing you too hard to say what something is before you know what it is, can freeze you up.

Amen and Amen!

Of course, many of you out there won't be able to identify with this at all. You can spill your entire story to any stranger on the street before you've written one word and still sit down and write a good novel. I can't. I feel my way along--page by page and chapter by chapter--and I'm never quite sure if I'm on the right path. So you can see that brainstorming with writer friends just doesn't work for me. I've always been somewhat of a loner in my writing. I've been in a million critique groups--compatible with maybe one-third of them.

Believe me, I'd love to have rhino skin. I'd love to be able to take it on the chin when someone sneers in my direction. I'd love to be able to brainstorm and let my stories spew and not be intimidated or shut down when someone with a stronger POV than mine says, "that won't work because of this, this and this and you need to change that to this and this to that and totally remove the ..."

Berg does believe in critique groups, and so do I, but I also agree with Berg when she says:

Just take care in choosing those whom you ask to look at it; and then be careful of what you do with their advice.

I'd really like to learn how to brainstorm with others. I believe if I could master this my stories would be less problematic. I know writers who take off on week long retreats and all they do is toss ideas around, work out their plots, help each other grow them into complete stories. Color me green with envy. Do you think this is something that can be learned? Reckon I could train myself to be that open and trusting?

Do you brainstorm with friends? How often? How many friends? What's your brainstorming procedure? How well does it work for you?